American foreign policy

Crooked French Prez Chirac just returned from vacation in Canada. German chancellor Schroeder traditionally takes summer break in Italy. Dubya spends every break in Texas.

On my business school trip to Japan a few years ago, one my classmates returned from a morning shopping in Tokyo absolutely outraged she couldn’t find anything because those damn Japs don’t speak English. In their own country! How dare they? And she was a Ivy League graduate student, not a 9th-grade dropout from Deepass, AL.

A famous American motorcycle world champion said in the press, “if you ain’t American, you ain’t shit.”

Why is anybody so shocked 19 crazy assholes flew airplanes into buildings and American soldiers are put in a situation where people they were sent to “liberate” are murdering them every day? Maybe it’s time to learn there are 6 billion other people with their own culture.

The South produced Jeff Foxworthy. That’s good enough to forgive them everything.

 

You're in France for less then 3 months and you're already a Frenchman?

Pepe Le'Thiam?

 

Funny how since Papa made the comment noone will touch it. But if it were Due's.................

hmmmmmmmm, so just how DO you spell "noone". It just doesn't look right.

 

Nah, I'll debate this with Papa via IM later today. More fun that way.

Papa is no longer on my do not screw with list. He let my future mistress quit her job.

 

Thats not fair to limit the debate to just you and him - you should keep it in here. I want this to be a mass debate. I mean, who wouldnt want a mass debate over something so sensitive???

 

How'd he get in with that goofy grin he always has on his face?

http://www.japantoday.com/canada.html

 

What Mongo said...Papa's full of shit. He's bored and picking a "fight".

Where heads of state spend their vacation does not mean much in regard to foreign policy.

A student's lack of sophistication when travelling abroad has no bearing on foreign policy.

The racer's comment on being American is taken out of context. Also, that racer's personal opinion in regard to nationality has no bearing on foreign policy.

6 billion other people have cultures that aren't American. By-and-large, the US (in regard to foreign policy) has no "problems" with most of those other 6 billion. However, in regard to Papa's inflammatory comment about the 19 crazies, Islamic fundamentalism as practiced in the Middle East has a big problem with infidels. Their solution is to kill all infidels, particularly the US. Now that the US has started "fighting back", the terrorists have moved on to easier targets. There have been no terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11/01

There's more to it than that...

Mongo, Americans certainly do not have a monopoly on idiocy.

 

For what its worth Papa, I tend to disagree with your assesment of US culture. The US culture is the predominant culture in the world today and influences kids and adults alike all over the globe. Nothing else comes close. Now, whether the culture is "good" or "bad" (and there are arguments both ways), the fact is that traditionalists all over the globe see the spread of US culture as a threat - be they farmers vs McDonalds in France, or UBL vs USA in Afghanistan. They see it as a threat because by welcoming US culture, they inevitably lose some of their own native culture. This equates to change. Change is feared, always. Is the US pushing its culture on other cultures? yes, but only in as far as the foreign consumers are offered it as a free choice over thier own cultures. I have no problem with any of this.

Ignorant Americans? - no more or less ignorant than any other people, and I have countess anecdotal instances of this.

Polite/friendly? - hells yes. The average American is 72% more friendly than any other nationality when you meet them as a stranger. (statistical error +/- 50%)

Limited travel? - what? drive 9 hours to race. Just for a weekend???? - no where else in the world do they do that.


You want to critise the US? I'll help you out there. These are my humble observances:

- too religious in the midwest. Talk about "being saved", "finding Jesus" etc etc makes my skin creep. I know its all meant well, but I cannot connect with hardcore Christians. But I guess its a personal problem, Sir, I'll see the Chaplain.

- too much emphasis on speeding and not enough on general safe driver training / rules of the road etc.

- healthcare is best in the world if you can afford it. The system of insurance and healthcare providers sometimes seems like a racket to me.

- taking the whole of August off work like Europe may not be totally adviseable, but Americans work too much as a rule. By agreeing acceptable vacation times, I think individuals would achieve the same amount of work, yet get the chance to unwind fully for 2-3 weeks in the summer. Family life would improve also. Life is too short to work it all away.

- Cops could be de-militarised a tad.

- Cheerleader uniforms should not be restriced purely to the football field. I can see greater use for these, by issuing them to wider organisations (e.g. - airline stewardesses, nurses, female motorcycle racers etc.)


I'll stop before it gets political. Basically its all chicken feed compared to what a decent place to be the US is.

 

It's two words. No one. What language do they speak on the planet you come from? I'm not buying that "English" gig, especially after hearing that your teeth are straight.

 

Yeah, well, as if to prove how crap England is with their English language, I was just now reading in a UK paper a story headed:

"PRICELESS DA VINCI PAINTING STOLEN"
Then just a short sentance or two later they go on to give the value of this "priceless" work of art as $30M

Words just don't mean what they should I guess.


And yes, my teeth are indeed perfect. I am a national discrace as a result. Here is a photo of them -

 

Greg,
Wrong guess. Unless you found a way to get inside my head without my knowledge. I may be bored, but what made me think about this was watching the news and hearing about presidents going to and returning from vacations. That reminded me of conversations I have had over the years with people who asked me why I chose to live in America and proceeded to tell me what they think about it. There are a lot of people who think the average American has absolutely no interest in anything happening beyond their borders, and no respect for other people. I just thought that this coincidence about vacations was pretty emblematic of those conversations I have had. By the way, this wasn't about George Bush. I dislike all politicians equally. At least he amuses me. But then again, I was greatly entertained by Clinton as well. And I'm sure you are too smart to believe I am insinuating that my stupid classmates behavior in Japan or one motorcycle racer caused the attack on the World Trade Center. I was picking random examples of stupid behavior that makes the rest of the world believe Americans are arrogant and ignorant. That said, ignorance and arrogance from politicians are at least partly responsible for a lot of foreign policy crap and the resulting deaths. But I will save my arguments for Dave K.

Dave K.,
I will see you online. Be well prepared. Bring books.

Mongo,
Canada is in America. Chirac has your trip beat. But seriously, you are right. Europeans make even me look like a long-distance driver. Then again, with trains that have gone well over than 300 mi. an hour (although they only cruise at 180 with passengers), why would they want to drive?

Lastly, yes Chirac is one seriously goofy looking fellow. I would not vote for him no matter how smart he was unless I had never seen his face.

 

Wow, I thought we got along just fine at the Vortex.













I know you mean that you can not connect with "the shove it down your throat or you go to hell by golly there is no chance of salvation for you sinner"type....

I just felt like picking on you because you are a foreigner and don't speak my country's language...errr...um....because you...um...ah crud..never mind.

 

No, I can't get in your head but it was worth a shot .

I did not think your post was directly about George Bush. You used two examples of other heads of state travelling internationally for vacation, then an example of our Pres staying home, as it were. Combined with the title of the post "American Foreign Policy" I thought you were pointing out that our foreign policy has no regard for the international community. It seems to me that your other two examples were to further illustrate the fact that our foreign policy has no regard for the interantional community and in fact, as clarified by your response, that Americans in general have no interest or respect for things and people beyond our borders.

My point, and I do have one, is that two anecdotal stories do not a case make and what a head of state does in their "free" time is not necessarily reflective of policy. In fact, I'll submit that other cultures are even less tolerant and ignorant about American culture than we are about theirs. Do you believe that the 19 crazies were intelligent and rational people who thought that their actions were respectful of the international community? Do you believe that they came to the conclusion that it was worthwhile to sacrifice their lives in order to kill the infidels after carefully weighing the facts of the impact of American foreign policy on the world or their community?

What about the North Korea situation. NK is demanding that we deal unilaterally with them. We refuse and want China and Japan involved in talks as well. Is this also in disregard of the interantional community? Is this ignorant and disrespectful?

American foreign policy should put American interest first. Period.

Of course I know that your two examples were not the cause of the WTC attack but your random examples are just that, random. Random examples of ignorant, intolerant and disrepectful behavior abound in all cultures.

This all begs the question "Is American culture better than other cultures?". My answer is an unequivocal "Yes". As hell bent as our society can be on limiting personal freedoms and promoting socialist values, we still maintain the majority of our personal property rights as well as our rights as spelled out in the Constitution. IMO this is far better than the socialist nanny states of the EU or the Muslim extremist states of the Middle East or the communist states of NK, NV, and China and I fully support foreign policy promoting our culture internationally even if it is at the point of a gun sometimes. That's kind of how we got the joint started, knowhutimean?

Speaking of China, have you noticed the evolution of their economy to a more capitalist type one?

If you've read this far, thanks. My reasoning that you were picking a fight is that you know all of this already.

 

I read every word. I think the hatred comes from what you said in the last paragraph. No culture is better than any other. I am by no means defending crazy fanatics who fly airplanes into buildings. But if other people are happy with their culture, what gives you the right to say yours is better? In my opinion, the smart thing to say is that you like yours better. That's how you avoid people hating you. Maybe you don't see the difference between the two statements, but there is a huge one.

 

"we are here because inside of every gook, there's a god damn american trying to get out. do you understand private?"

 

I understand the difference between the two statements. And I don't simply like my culture better, I believe mine is better and I'm willing to place a value judgement on my culture vs other cultures and say that mine is better.

I have the right to say that, especially in this country. If people hate me for what i have to say, that is a consequence I have to pay to live in a mostly free society. I understand that.

Why is it wrong to place a value judgement on a culture? Would you say the Soviet culture had an equal value as American culture? Would you say that the culture of Renaissance Italy was equal in value to he Dark Ages that preceeded it? If all cultures were equal why do they change? Was Facism bad? Was Nazism bad? Would you say something was wrong with the culture that allowed that to flourish?

Just because someone is happy with something doesn't make it right, either and because it is right, that doesn't always make one happy. I'm not always happy with the society I live in, but I still believe in the American society and culture.

If it weren't for a few brave men and their families who thought they could create a better system and told King George to get stuffed, we wouldn't have the most productive society with as much opportunity as we do today.

Politically, it may be smart to say "I think..." instead of "I believe..." and for the Politically Incorrect torch bearer, you surprise me with your moral equivalance.

 

I think that any culture that, as a part of its core values, is intolerant of other cultures to the point of killing, is wrong. You can apply that to any society on any continent, and I believe it is true. A look at history, back through the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and up to modern Moslem fundamentalism, seems to reveal that it's all the same problem.

 

Tex, I had no idea you were a fundamentalist Christian. Please, now that you've admitted it, let me know how we can best help you. Seriously though, Christians are great. I think Julius Caeser said it best "Christians are my favorites - they put up a such a great fight and are SO entertaining to watch."

See you at Church

 

I just bought that DVD over the weekend.